Pretty Lights - So Bright

In a testament to the never-ending backstabbery that takes place on the daily across the record industry, one of the pillars of the free music movement has fallen victim to the greed game. Yesterday, a leaked track from Pretty Lights' new record started popping up all over the internet--most notably on the popular EDM marketplace Beatport. Since the beginning of the PL run, Derek Vincent Smith has championed giving his music away for free--a tactic which no doubt has led to his massive stardom (though his talent would have undeniably gotten him here, eventually). Says Smith in an apologetic Facebook post: "I was not ready to put this track out but some how it's now posted on multiple sites as well as for sale on multiple sites... it has never been my intention to strictly sell any tracks off my new record."

Lost in all the hubbub is the track itself, "So Bright," a dark, dystopian anthem that embodies the evil that embroils the track's untimely release. With painful howls and gritty beats, the cut is a hard-hitting, head-banging tune, cathartic in its pleas for mercy and bone-chilling denials thereof. According to Smith, a new documentary out soon will let fans in on the process of this record, which included pressing arrangements to vinyl, then sampling directly from those original recordings (a process he described in his interview on The Untz Podcast summer). Pretty Lights can take solace in the fact that his hard work and dedication have paid off, but this one is sure to leave a bad taste.